August 23rd, 2007

Few days ago, I wrote an article for Club Echo’s blog. For the reader’s convenience, I have reproduced the same article below. Read it and tell me how you feel.

Stress is very common. Everybody has it. Everybody faces it. Without even a bit of stress, everything in this world would come to standstill. That is because stress is the critical component that moves things around; that gets things done. But, one thing to remember is that, stress should not overtake permissible limits.

Apart from work stress, there are other kinds of stress that knowingly or unknowingly affect us. Together, all the stresses collate at the end of the day and tire us out. This article is going to be about killing the extra stresses so that life beyond work will be awesome!

Stress outside work occurs when the mind is chattering unnecessarily. “Chattering unnecessarily” means that some thought or the other keeps doing rounds in our minds. To attain peace and relief from stress, one must try to stop the mind from chattering. If there is no work to do, engaging in a hobby or two is a good thing. Learning new skills is another. Meditation for even a few minutes is great. A luke warm water bath does so much good. … See the point? There are a lot of things to do if you WISH to do.

Chattering mostly occurs when we are doing routine tasks. That’s because the mind/body is so used to doing the routine tasks that it just doesn’t concentrate on the task at hand and starts wandering. Most popular routine tasks that fit the bill are riding, walking, reading, cooking and watching TV.

There is one simple solution to get the mind to stop thinking uselessly – Condition it. Do you think smoking is bad? If yes, it means that you are conditioned so strongly to believe that smoking is bad. Similar conditioning of the mind is required to keep it from chattering. Every now and then, when you start drifting and realize it, stop then and there and COMMAND your mind to stop the useless thoughts. Keep doing this repeatedly. This is a very simple task. Once you get used to it, after a certain period of time, your mind will not go on its own; which means, you enjoy the task at hand. Slowly, as and when more and more tasks are getting done, we even get better at multi-tasking.

May be there could be a Leonardo Da Vinci in the making . Here are a few solutions to some common problems:

You are having a heavy fight and you are immediately moving out somewhere. Of course, you will have a foul mood and your driving will be rash and your mind will go crazy of thinking how to punish the people who made you feel bad. Right? A wise man is one who doesn’t act when he is angry. So, as soon as you are away, stop aside, close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, relax and then resume driving. Spend some time alone and do not let your mind wander.

You are just out of an unusually hard day at office and you are about to date your favourite girl 😀 but the foul mood continues . So, the most simplest thing you can do is, keep repeating to yourself that office is over and you are going to have an awesome time 😀 . It will save lot of energy and you will be radiating optimism.

Drink lots of water. That way, even if you don’t want to, you will walk to the restroom. It will keep you away from boredom and will keep you productive.

Write simple articles like this 😉

There are many other simple problems that everybody faces day in and day out. It’s all up to us to manage them and conquer them. Share your simple problems in the comments section and show us how you tackled them.

How was it? Liked it? Have suggestions? Let me know in the comments section.